Samsung ‘Galaxy Note 7’ Could Have Caused Fires, Recall Not Done Through Official Channels

Although some are praising Samsung’s swift and decisive action with regards to issuing a massive recall of the “Galaxy Note 7” devices that were already shipped out, it would seem that the South Korean company is not out of the woods yet. Two massive fires that destroyed a Jeep Grand Cherokee and a garage are being attributed to the exploding batteries of the phablet, and federal official are griping about not being involved during the recall.

Aside from the obvious danger that its users of the “Note 7” were in, it was precisely to avoid legal debacles that Samsung decided to simply recall millions of the devices that it had already shipped out. However, a Fox 13 report indicates that one of the devices could have caused a Florida man’s Jeep to catch on fire.

The man in question is Nathan Dornacher and he lives in St. Petersburg, Florida with his wife. According to Dornacher, shortly after returning from a yard sale during Labor Day, he looked out the window to see that his Jeep was already on fire. He claims that he left a newly acquired “Note 7” charging on the center console of the vehicle. Dornacher also says that he had no idea that there was a recall of the device.

A similar incident happened in Horry County, South Carolina where one Wesley Hartzog is blaming his “Note 7” for the fire that consumed his garage. Speaking to WMBF, Hartzog said that he had left the phablet charging on a wall socket in the garage, which fire investigators are stating is right about where the fire started.

As if things weren’t bad enough for Samsung thanks to these incidents, the company could also be in a heap of trouble by not going through the official channels when it issued the recall. According to Recode, the company did not work with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to make the recall official. Doing so would have allowed the agency to alert U.S. consumers about the battery problems much more effectively, and could have prevented the two incidents.